Kadmat, Lakshadweep (Feb 26-Mar 3)

So we are back on the mainland of India after a 3 day stay on the island of Kadmat, Lakshadweep with a 1 day "cruise" there and 1 day back covering 400 kms each way. The Lakshadweeps are a group of 36 coral atoll islands (only 4 of which are open to foreigners). The cruise itself was okay... the a/c was not working and the times to eat were not obvious ... outside sleeping and eating, the time was spent reading and drinking in the ocean view... no extracurricular activities or entertainment :) The rooms were very clean and the food was great! The interesting thing was we arrived at the first island (Kavaratti) at 6 a.m. to take on and let off locals........ 6 hours later, we resumed our journey to Kadmat! From what we could observe, we were waiting for fuel to be pumped onto a smaller local boat - probably the source of fuel for the island. Lori is proud to say she managed both trips in the ship without any motion sickness whereas sailor John had to go for a stroll to reset his sea legs ;).
Below...our ship and our private 1st class cabin!

Our island accommodation was a simple non-AC bungalow (there were only 20 in total) under the palms on the ocean facing west. The tricky part for us was managing a clicking ceiling fan, open windows for the ocean breeze, and the absence of window screens to keep out the mosquitoes during sleeping hours. We are learning the art of compromise as John seems to need cool more (prefers open windows) and Lori has a tougher time with mosquitoes (prefers closed windows). Actually, it seems like one of the reasons why John doesn't care so much about the mozzies is it appears that Lori serves as a natural bug repellent (from John's perspective). John lies there near naked with no blanket sweating and all he needs is Lori beside him who attracts all the mozzies towards her!

A great perk at our hut was the delicious hot masala tea delivered to our door each morning at 7:00. (Mom and Dad would love the tea - lots of milk and sugar ;D) It is such a treat to sit on the veranda watching the day awaken. It was very peaceful. Again the food was great - it is amazing how varied the vegetarian dishes are. Suffice it to say, when you have 3 all-you-can-eat meals a day, it is hard to restrain oneself! How did we manage to swim without sinking???.

Below...home sweet home and one of many ocean views.

As small as this island is, it is well inhabited - very little land is free of a home, small building or tiny garden. There are approximately 6500 people living there in very small dwellings. There is one main road running the length of the island and it was hard to count more than 3 cars/vans on the whole island. Their source of income is coconut coir and fish. This they sell on the mainland and are able to purchase rice, veggies, fruit, etc. There are also many goats, chickens and a few cows which are mostly free to wander about...the goats are oblivious to our speeding minivan as they lay on the roadside! Coconut coir is the use of the coconut fibre for making such items as rope and mats. We toured a coconut plant where we learned how much can actually be made and used from a coconut. You have coconut milk, coconut oil, coconut meat, portions used for cow feed, portions used to make coir as well as dried shells used for cooking fires. All from one fruit!. The photo below shows the women separating out the good strands of coir fibre before they are spun into a binder twine style of rope.




























The island is completely covered by coconut palms, the ground is all sand everywhere (or old coral) and there is just a few occasional plots of land where some veggies are grown and a few fruit trees manage to live. Electricity on the island is provided by a very large solar panel array, and apparently they have no problems with water supply with the ground water level just a few feet below the sand surface.

One side has a large coral lagoon which was unfortunately bleached by a 1998 El Nino. There is evidence that the corals are coming back - but it will take quite some time to restore it to what it once was. Despite this, there is much aquatic life! Within swimable distance from the beach just outside the coral reef, we saw turtles, unicorn fish, tiger fish, parrot fish, needle fish, clown fish (nemo) and countless others of varying shapes, sizes and abounding colors for which we do not know the names.

As you can see from the photo below...the beach around the resort and the water was about as perfect as you can imagine...and there were barely 50 people here so long quiet walks in scenes like this were part of the daily routine.




























....The water was unbelievably warm (like bath tub water) and clear... and the conditions for afternoon napping were excellent.

We were brought on a tour of the island and, on the most southern tip, was a beautiful beach where there was evidence of a turtle's nesting. We were also fortunate enough to spy a few baby turtles making their way to the ocean - they were the size of the Canadian toonie! It is exciting to watch their pace quicken as they sense the closeness of the ocean. The turtles seem to be coming ashore and laying their eggs all around the resort area, so it is not uncommon in the early morning to see some little fellas scurrying about.

One day we went out by boat snorkeling just outside the reef about 1 km from shore and there in about 10m depth of water spotted 4-5 huge (1m diameter) sea turtles swimming about or lying on the ocean floor...truly a cool experience to see the graceful way they seem to glide through the water. I hope this little guy grows up to be big one day!

The vast majority of the other 25 -odd people on this trip were young Indian couples, 100% of which were honeymooners. Slowly we got to know a few of them and by the time we departed the island, they all wanted to have their pictures taken with us!.

Well, we deliberated a lot about whether to extend our stay. 2.5 days on a ship for barely 3 days on the island was a drag. But extending would mean that we'd have to wait for the next ship...5 more days and although in many ways this island was near perfect....it just didn't seem like the right thing to do. John would have liked to have taken a scuba course, but it was 50% more expensive to do it here and the corals were mostly all dead...so it just seemed like it would be better to wait for another time/place that would seem better suited. So it was with a lot of regret we bid farewell to a near perfect tropical paradise and headed for the bustle of the rest of India....

Kochi (Feb 21-26)

Well, what can we say about Fort Kochi except that it was quite evident from our taxi here that it would be hot and humid - unbelievably so - we are certain that this is good preparation for the heat we can expect in the north. We shared this taxi with another couple from Australia with whom we had the pleasure of enjoying dinner upon arrival. For some unknown reason, many hotels and guest houses were full - we all concluded that Kochi must be a large hub for travelers heading in all directions. It is an island near a river mouth surrounded by other islands - unique location. Kochi is like many of the port towns around here...with a Portuguese, then Dutch, then British past so there are once again some old cathedrals and colonial style buildings all in crumbling condition. In fact, in this, the 'old' part of town it is relatively quiet and slowly transforming into more of a tourist destination. Meanwhile a short ferry ride across the harbour is the bustling 'new town' - Ernakalum - with some modern buildings and 1 million people.

One important thing to note is that the state of Kerala has a freely elected Communist government and it is evident in prominence of the hammer and sickle.

During our first evening, we strolled along the waterfront and enjoyed watching the fisherman using Chinese fishing nets which are mounted on piers and are manually tipped into the water - very neat to watch.... and the unexpected delight of dolphins just offshore was an added bonus! It's a short, but nice walk facing west into the Indian ocean but unfortunately marred by immense amounts of trash and rotting garbage both on the shoreline and floating in the water...such a typical sight for India. I think we have yet to see an Indian person discard anything into an actual trash can (tho' admittedly you usually have to look long and hard to find one). It is interesting to note that Indians truly love the seaside. Everywhere so far where there has been ocean, the Indians love to spend time gazing, getting splashed or playing in the water. Perhaps this will be part of the key to the reduction in pollution - there is so much natural beauty here.

The following day we took our time walking through what is called Jew town and took some time to chat with shop owners that were relaxing outside an antique shop. Very friendly and it turns out that one man travels by ship regularly and has been to St. John's! You can imagine Lori's surprise and delight to know that he has seen her hometown - quite a unique exchange. These men shared with us how the town has changed in the last 20 years - things are much quieter and the market is not as big as it used to be. For some reason there are many goats (no cows) wandering around town, eating whatever they can find...which turns out to be quite a lot given the amount of trash everywhere.


In one section of town there is a canal cutting through with a rather dark colour and pungent smell...we'll enclose a couple of pictures to show you how bad the water can get!


We grabbed one of the frequent ferries to make our way to the nearby island of Willington where we hoped to book a trip to the island of Kadmat, Lakshadweep...we were successful. We leave Feb 26th via ship - an Indian style mini cruise as it will take us just over 24 hours to reach the island 400 kms offshore. We are booked for 3 days on the island but may extend our time if we like what we see when we get there. Of course, the mode of return trip will be decided by the seaworthiness of the travelers (i.e. will Lori experience seasickness?)

The weather continues to be very hot and humid (33 yesterday before humidex) so we are learning to walk slowly, drink plenty of water and seek the shade. We do not have a/c in our room so the ceiling fan is always on top speed!

We decided to order a beer at a seaside restaurant and when our waiter arrived with a teapot, we were ready to assume he had the wrong table until he quietly stated they did not have a licence to serve beer....... thus the disguise. There is always a story to bring a smile.

We have been enjoying western breakfasts here mostly because that's all we have been able to find. Here is Lori enjoying oatmeal with banana, pomegranate and honey with masala tea while John enjoyed a massive vegetable omelet with homemade wholewheat toast and strong organic coffee. We weren't hungry until late in the evening. Apologies to those of you to whom this would sound ordinary but this is a real treat for us!


One still has to learn many ways to speak and ask questions to ensure you only get and pay for what you actually request or require. This morning for example, John queried on a menu item to determine whether the muesli included yogurt and fruit - no fruit....so John ordered the eggs & toast item instead........or so he thought. When the eggs and toast we just about finished, the muesli and yogurt arrived! Very big breakfast today :D

Munnar & Kumily, Kerala (Feb 17-21)

Another 5 hr hair-raising minibus ride takes us over the top of the Western Ghat mountains and partially down their western side. This is an area of immense tea plantations spread across the hills and valleys. You can see from the photos how narrow the road is, and with lots of switchbacks and blind hairpin turns it's amazing how the drivers here do it. Our bus had a decal of Jesus and the last supper on the front window and I can say that I was definitely praying that the previous night was not to have been my last supper! Let's just say that when Lori asked John would he chose the bus ride or a roller coaster ride - he chose the roller coaster - do you all know John has never been on a roller coaster?


Munnar was the name of the first town and we stayed in a very nice guesthouse of half a dozen rooms with a nice view out of our bay window of a tea covered hill.


The only real thing to do here is to go for walks on the hills and through the tea plantations which made for a very pleasant day, ending by a waterfall where some locals served some massala tea. As you can see from the photos the views with mountains and lush green tea plantations are stunning and such a welcome change from the dustier cities below.


Off from there we had yet another 5 hr bus ride (Lori loved the bus color - pink) which took us to the town of Kumily which is the base for the Periyar Tiger Reserve. The thing to remember is that the bus is comfortable because you have a seat and it is air conditioned because all the windows are down.

Kumily is also an area of tea plantations and spice gardens so our first day was spent on a guided tour through a tea plantation/small factory where it is always nice to learn more about how the whole process works. Of course John, never being content with just being a spectator, decided to pitch in and lend a hand....

Afterwards, we enjoyed a little tour through a spice garden where us northerners were in awe of how these assorted plants and trees yield pepper, cardamom, all spice, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, coffee, etc. No wonder the Europeans sought after the spices of the east with such passion. Can you imagine how boring their food must have been before the discovery of the orient?

Our second day was spent on a trip into the edge of the "Tiger Reserve". It's about 4000 sq km with an estimated 46 tigers in the park. The real animal concentrations though are wild pigs, bison, deer, monkies and around 1000 elephants. We took a 3hr guided 'nature' walk really hoping to come across elephants (because a tiger sighting is rare) but luck was not to be with us. We did come across the wild pigs, a few sets of black monkeys scampering high up in the trees, and a pair of exotic birds called hornbills. Lori was observant enough to spot a set of tiger tracks! (not sure if they were real?)

Some sections of the walk were through forest with amazingly large and tall trees, however once out in the open field it appeared that vast areas of the hillsides stretching into the distance were pretty bare...probably a victim of clear cutting from a previous era. The center of the park is a 26 sq km reservoir resulting from a dam built by the British about 100 yrs ago. This provided the afternoon's activities as they organize tour boat rides for a few hours for further wildlife spotting. However...the only thing we managed to see that we didn't already see from our afternoon walk were some deer and a substantially sized (6 foot long) snake.

Our accommodation here in Kumily is also nice (read as clean..especially the sheets and the bathroom...which can be a treat to have here) along with friendly owner and his wife. They'll make you omelets and toast and bring it up to our room where we have a nice little private balcony to eat on. The rest of the town is nice...perhaps 10-20 thousand people and a little main drag to walk along with many shops and cheap (but always very tasty) eats. Its a change from some of the larger towns in dusty Tamil Nadu province where we started from. It is said that this province Kerala (here on the south west tip) is more developed, wealthy and scenic than much of the rest of India...so we are being spoiled at the moment.

One thing we realize is that we have been eating strictly vegetarian since our arrival here 3 weeks ago and are not really missing meat yet - we are pretty sure it is due to the abundance of various spices and the Indian ability to blend them into so many different dishes. We continue to come across new dishes to sample with every menu we read - its awesome!

Kodaikanal (Feb 13-16)

Fresh in from the bustling city of Trichy, the small mountain town of Kodaikanal was a refreshing welcome. It truly is great to breathe in cool mountain air after spending most of our time thus far contending with dust and exhaust. This is not to say that it is devoid of vehicular traffic here but there is a drastic reduction. Kodai is at an elevation of 7000 feet and it is amazing the difference that makes in temperature. Down in Trichy it was very hot in the afternoon, 30 deg and maybe low 20's at night...up here it is maybe 22 by afternoon and perhaps about 10 at night...Good thing we still have our fleeces with us. The main draw of this place is the cool-ness and it's peak season starts up in May when it is scorching down below and 'just nice' up here ... Here's a shot taken on the very windy (not for the faint of heart) bus ride up....


Did we mention the horn-blowing here in India?....it continues....sometimes you think the drivers are waiting until they are alongside so they can enjoy watching you jump right out of your sandals! A view down one of the main streets...competing with the cars, motos, cows, amid the sound of horns....


Here, we feel we are in a smaller version of what we have experienced in India so far but on a much more compact scale and of course with the added hillside views (which have been limited by the haze). There is a "lake" here which many Indian visitors seem to enjoy on paddle boats. We imagine that it is popular because many do not see mountains or lakes as often as us Canadians are fortunate to :D. One of the views from around town.


Lunch by the 'lake'... perhaps a little under-prepared for the change in temperature!


There is a trail here with views (which again are hampered by the limited visibility).... and the food here has Tibetan/Himalayan influences which is quite interesting when you consider most of the continent lies between these two areas. Yummy for us!

We have had a few interesting encounters here. We had a last minute dinner guest one evening. We recognized him (and he us) from the guest house and he immediately pulled up chair. We are quite okay with this as it avails the opportunity to chat and learn more about the person and the place. This visit however was unexpected mostly in how he asked us to order 2 rotis for him which he promptly ate after thanking us. We were caught off guard. He appeared to know and make multiple requests of the staff for more sauces......and he left with take out. A good night for him I guess.

Breakfast one morning I (Lori) instantly took a liking to our server. He had a sweet, pleasant demeanour - I wanted to make a return visit for breakfast again because such nice service and tasty food deserves a repeat visit.

This town got its start around the turn of the century because American Missionaries started a school for the their children here. As a result there is a higher number of churches etc scattered around town and not a few vehicles with Christian slogans like "Praise the Lord" around. That original school has now become the Kodai International School and apparently is the main employer in the town.


The latter part of our time here is spent planning our escape while Lori works off a lingering stomach bug...must have been the tomatoes in that veggie sandwhich the other day! We only say 'escape' as trying to plan a direct route (that doesn't require the use of multiple modes of transport, transfers and units of time to reach our desired destination) demands creativity, patience and openness ;) This is what it means to visit India. It is multi-faceted in its challenges i.e. many opportunities to grow and broaden your mind.

Trichy and Tanjore (Feb 10-13)

Well, eventually it was time to move from the little oasis that is Pondi and into the heartland. Today was the first day for trying the train in India. It's a small quiet station in Pondi and we boarded the 7:45 am feeder train into Villapuram where we awaited the GuruVayar express. On the way from Pondi we shared the booth with 3 Indian people who turned out to be school teachers on their way to work. First they took some time to read and pray (I think it was a bible they were reading), then some Idli's they had brought with them for B'fast (of which they offered us some), and then we had a nice conversation about students in India and Canadian geography.

After a couple hours wait we got our 'express' which got us to Trichy pretty quickly (3 hrs). Once again, amazingly old trains and a fare of $3.50!!!! We were booked in 2nd class (no AC) but at least were in the cars with pre-assigned seats and with windows down, the breeze was sufficient. The other version of 2nd class with no assigned seating was jammed to the gills.

Trichy is known for a fort built on top of a huge granite outcropping and a Hindu temple claimed to be one of the largest in India. The fort also has a temple part way up the 500 stairs however non Hindus (that's us) were not allowed inside but going all the way up did allow for a great view of the city at night.

The temple was fairly impressive....7 concentric compounds with large impressive gopurams (gates) leading into each deeper compound. Once again the most inner part with the more holy Hindu place was off limits to us so can't report on that. The parts we did see also had sections with arcades supported by dozens of impressively carved stone pillars, with the oldest parts of the complex dating back to (I think) 12th-13th century.

What about Trichy town....about 1 million people, very compact, no buildings over 3 stories (except for a few hotels around the bus/train station), and then the rest crammed in narrow streets, unbelievable traffic, horn blowing, lots of dirt and dust on the streets, the streets lined with shops of everything imaginable (goods, restos, garages, stores, etc). Sheer pandemonium...and this is not even a large Indian city!

Tanjore (new name Thanjuvar) is about 1.5 hrs away by bus so we decided to make a day trip there to see another Hindu temple dated back to 1010. This was an impressive temple, spread over an area perhaps a bit larger than a football field and with a pillared arcade around the perimeter and a large tower atop an inner temple in the center of the courtyard. It had a bit of an Angkor Wat like feel about it, except of course that it is not a ruin and has been in active use ever since it's beginning. Here we were allowed to enter the inner temple 'sanctuary' where there is lots of incense and candle burning and an image of a black stone pillar 7ft high with a priest chanting some chants. I'm trying hard to imagine the Hindu spirituality (there were obviously people there for whom this was a sacred event..some with shaved heads)...what are they imagining in their minds when they are worshipping?...It's hard for it not to feel to us like it is some kind of an idol being worshipped....or is it really a divine g/God and that this image is the best way in which they can imagine their god to be? We do not know.

Okay, so this may look like another photo op but truly I believe the young boys like having photos taken and then enjoying seeing themselves afterward...and that is totally okay with us as this it so true of many young children everywhere. This is not to take away from their friendliness and genuine attempt to speak with us....quite endearing.

Once these sights had been seen, it seemed there wasn't much reason to linger in Trichy so we booked a seat on a bus for the next day heading west towards the Ghat mountains and the hillside town of Kodaikanal.

Pondicherry (Feb 6-9)

Pondicherry you may have heard of through "Life of Pi" fame. For us it was a 3 hr bus ride further south along the coast and is not a typical Indian town. Having been the domain of the French up until a few decades ago, it has a nice waterfront area with a walking promenade, a number of colonial buildings, some big catholic churches, bakeries with croissants and a few other holdovers from the French. This all takes place in the first 4-5 blocks set back from the sea front. Then you cross a 'canal' which is more like a sewer and suddenly you are in India again!. The number of people, vehicles, shops, etc increases (easily) by a factor of 10 and you are in a whole different world.

But first a few words about our bus ride. We were told to just walk a km up the road to the highway and buses would come every 10 minutes and to flag one down. Well 10 minutes was more like 20 between buses and the first 3 were so full we couldn't get on them. So about an hour later we finally got onto a standing room only bus that is the most rickety thing you can imagine. How many kms must be on those buses?!?. Mind you for the 2 hr , 120km ride it only cost us 50 cents each. It is truly remarkable how cheap it is for buses and food here.

We ended up finding - after strolling around for 30 minutes in blazing sun - a most wonderful place to stay...perhaps one of the nicest so far on our trip. A small building, 4 stories high with 1 or 2 rooms per floor and a common roof top deck with a beautiful view over the ocean and perfect parisian croissants provided for breakfast.

The place was tended by a young (Age 22) Indian boy, Ramu, who was a long way from his hometown (Hydrabad) and who was starved for social interaction, being required to basically be on premises nearly 24x7. He talked our ear off about growing up in his home town and showed off his new mobile phone that took a year to save up for!

Overall there isn't a lot to do in Pondi (now called Puducherry). Walk around and look at a few decaying french buildings a 'sort of' museum, go into the Indian part of town to browse some shops, tour a Hindu temple to the god Ganesh, and get blessed by the resident elephant, Laksmi (via a touch of the trunk to the head...after you deposit a coin in his trunk).

The seafront promenade explodes into life each evening and especially on Sun eve,when there must have been tens of thousands of locals strolling around, buying food off vendors, some Indian dancing going on, etc....All in all a real festive atmosphere. This is probably quite unique to India...thx to the french perhaps for setting aside the waterfront.

We also rented bicycles one day and rode 6km north of town to some beach areas. They were nice beaches, wide, surf coming in, and long...many kms and with virtually no development. But also with lots of trash, both on the beach and in the water. The ride itself was pretty hair raising. We were on the street competing with motos, tuk-tuks, cars, trucks, buses, pedestrians, and an unbelievable cacaphony of horn blowing. We survived. Oh yes, also, the chain popped off Lori's bike and because they have chain covers over the whole chain I was having a hard time figuring out how to get the cover off to get at the chain. Fortunately some Indian fellow watched us struggling and came over to show how its done. He didn't know English and he wouldn't accept any money as thanks...such a contrast from the rest of your time in India where you are constantly harassed by people who want money for nothing. Good people are everywhere...but I guess you have to be off the tourist track to find them!

At our guesthouse there was also another Cdn couple who had been cycling around south India for the last couple of months...They said they had some days where they rolled into pretty small towns with pretty dodgy accomodations....I can just imagine! They were headed to Auroraville to spend 2 weeks helping with reforestation. They gave us their blodsite address so we can check into their experiences.

Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu (Feb 4-6)

Well getting to India itself turned out to be an adventure! We bought a couple of tickets on Air India Express over the internet a couple of days before the flight. So it turned out they thought it was kind of suspicious that someone from Canada would be buying flights from Kuala Lumpur to Trichy in India so they sent some email asking for a scanned copy of the credit card. Well of course since we don't see the internet everyday, we dutifully showed up at the airport only to be told our ticket had been cancelled!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to show up at an airport and say...hey we could go anywhere today where should we go? Eeny Meeny Miny Moe. That's what it was like. Since we had no hotels or anything booked we could choose anything! Luckily there was a flight to Chennai in an hour that still had seats available so off we went and on the flight read our Lonely Planet guide for India to decide what to do once we got there.

There didn't seem to be a lot about Chennai that really stood out so instead we headed straight from the airport to a small town on the coast 1.5 hrs to the south...called Mamallapuram. We got there in cab which looked like it was out of the 1950's and got a sampling of the crazy driving and crowds so typical of India on the way out of the big town.

At about 15,000 people Mamallapuram is pretty small by Indian standards....perhaps a good place for us to get our feet wet. There's a nice wide and long (2-3km) beach here, crowded with fishing boats (not western sunbathers). Nets and garbage are everywhere with a good dose of cows, dogs and goats wandering around too.... Here is a view looking down the beach...sorry the fishing boats aren't too clear but if you 'click' on the picture you'll get the bigger version which might give a better view).

Here we have a photo of Lori, having her Muesli, fruit and yogurt in a place by the beach. (You can see how excited she is in having yet another photo).



The main draw of this place is 7th century Hindu temples carved out of huge blocks of granite. One of them is built on a point out into the ocean and it's towers significantly broken down as the ocean was beginning to lap around it. So a few decades ago the gov't built a breakwater to protect it. Then 4 yrs ago the Tsunami washed a whole pile of sand away and it was discovered there was a lot more around than people had known.



This is also the case for another set of granite temples from the 7th c, carved out of large hill/boulder of granite...the 5 Rathas (or chariots). These are in really good shape because somehow they had been covered in sand and forgotten about for who knows how long, until the Tsunami revealed their presence....One of the 5 Ratha's below:




There are also some other temples/shrines carved out of the granite rock further inland...these had always been known.

While touring the temples, this monkey came up and sat beside us and we were told he was interested in our bottle of water. So we drank it down and then handed the rest over to him and he quickly grabbed it in his hands and started to quaff it back. Amazing to have a monkey literally sitting patiently right beside you!


The town has a couple of blocks which are backpacker havens (cafes, small guesthouses, travel agencies, etc) and the rest is pretty grubby looking compared to what we've been used to in SE Asia. Garbage everywhere, garbage being burned along city streets, cows wandering, beggars, the odd Sadhu (holy man) wandering around 1/2 naked, beggars, and people harassing you to no end to buy trinkets. After a few hours you feel like you need to retreat to your hotel room to recover. Lori is finding the garbagi-ness of everything and the begging a bit tough. Here we have the view looking down the street from our hotel (with Holy Cow, helping himself to the ample supply of garbage)...Note...not all the streets are this bad!




Well, we'll have to see how this is going to go for us....and we haven't even hit a big city or tried to navigate any form of bus/train adventures yet.

This is India.

PS, I should also add that Lori is a big hit with the Indian boys. They keep asking if they can have their picture taken with her....so she is getting a taste of what it might feel like to be a star!